MEMORY STORAGE

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MEMORY STORAGE INFORMATION PROCESSING
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• Have you ever wondered
• how you manage to remember information for a
  test?
• How you are able to create new memories, store
  them for periods of time, and recall them when
  they are needed.
• This is due to our MEMORY.
• But what exactly is memory? And How are memories
  formed?

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Our Mind is like the Computer
Retrieve
Input
Store the information Save it
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We are
walking
computers
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What is memory?

• Memory refers to the processes that are used to
  acquire, store, retain and later retrieve
  information.
• There are three major processes involved in
  memory
• encoding,
• storage and
• retrieval.

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What is memory?

• Encoding or registration (receiving, processing
  and combining of received information)
• Storage (creation of a permanent record of the
  encoded information)
• Retrieval, recall or recollection (calling back
  the stored information in response to some cue
  for use in a process or activity)
• In order to form new memories, information must
  be changed into a usable form, which occurs
  through the process known as encoding.
• Once information has been successfully encoded,
  it must be stored in memory for later use.
• Most of the stored memory lies outside of our
  awareness most of the time, except when we
  actually need to use it.
• The retrieval process allows us to bring stored
  memories into conscious awareness.

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What is Memory?

• Memory is the core to most of our
  cognitive process. Because.
• Memory is the storing of learned information,
  and the ability to recall that which has been
  stored.
• The mental faculty of retaining and recalling
  past experience.
• Research indicates that the ability to retain
  information is fairly uniform among normal
  individuals? what differs is the degree to which
  persons learn or take account of something to
  begin with and the kind and amount of detail that
  is retained.

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How does Memory relate to learning?

• Memory and learning are the basis of
  all our knowledge and abilities.
• Learning is the process of acquiring new
  knowledge, while.
• Memory helps retain the learned
  knowledge.
• Thus, memory is the brains ability to
  acquire, store, retain and retrieve
  information.

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Types of memory

• Memory can be classified into 2 primary
  types
• Explicit memory - Declarative memory (conscious
  memory)
• Implicit memory procedural memory (automatic
  unconscious)

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Explicit Memory Implicit Memory

• Explicit Memory
  (can be divided into STM
  LTM)
• It allows a person to recall consciously
  describe verbally information, e.g. facts, people
  etc
• Types of memory that contains info re specific
  events that happen at a specific time place.
• Forming storing memory are associated with
  past experience/knowledge.
• Implicit Memory
  (repetition priming,
  conditioning motor skills)
• Previous experience assist a person to perform
  task without any conscious awareness of the past
  experience.
• Through repetition priming skill learning a
  person would become better on task performance
  

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How our MIND works
Short Term Memory
Long Term Memory
SENSORY MEMORY
fleeting less than one second
working memory less than 20 seconds
unlimited stable
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Information Processing Model The Stage Theory
(Atkinson Shiffrin, 1968)
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Types of Memory

• Sensory register
• Part of memory that receives all the
  information a person senses from the environment
  and stores it fleetingly.
• Short term memory
• A part where new information is stored
  temporarily, until it is either lost or placed
  into long term memory
• Also known as working memory, where a decision
  must be made to discard information or to
  transfer it to permanent storage, in long-term
  memory.
• Long Term memory
• Part of memory which has unlimited capacity
  can hold information indefinitely.
• the encyclopedic mental processing unit in which
  information may be stored permanently and from
  which it may be later retrieved.

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So how do we retain information
in our Long-Term Memory ?
1. Organise the information properly
2. Rehearsal (i.e repetition)
3. Elaboration
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How Is Information Organized In Memory?

• The ability to access and retrieve information
  from long-term memory allows us to actually use
  these memories to
• make decisions,
• interact with others,
• solve problems, etc
• Exactly how are information organized in memory
  is unclear, but researchers do know that these
  memories are arranged in groups.

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How Is Information Organized In Memory?

• Clustering is used to organize related
  information into groups.
• Information that is categorized becomes easier to
  remember and recall.
• For example, consider the following group of
  words Desk, apple, bookshelf, red, plum, table,
  green, pineapple, purple, chair, peach, yellow
• Spend a few seconds reading them, then look away
  and try to recall and list these words.
• How did you group the words when you listed them?
  
• Most people will list using three different
  categories color, furniture and fruit.

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How Is Information Organized In Memory?

• One way of thinking about memory organization is
  known as the semantic network model.
• This model suggests that certain triggers
  activate associated memories ? i.e. a memory of a
  specific place might activate memories about
  related things that have occurred in that place.
• For example, thinking about a certain campus
  building might trigger memories of attending
  classes, studying and socializing with peers.

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Memory Retrieval

• Memory retrieval is important for our daily life,
  e.g. from remembering where you parked your car
  to learning new skills.
• Once information has been encoded and stored in
  memory, it must be retrieved in order to be used.
  
• There are many factors that can influence how
  memories are retrieved from long-term memory.
• In order to fully understand this process, it is
  important to understand exactly what retrieval is
  and what are the factors that can impact how
  memories are retrieved.
• Memory Retrieval is a process of accessing stored
  memories.
• Retrieval cues can be use ? can have an impact
  on how information is retrieved.
• A retrieval cue - a clue/prompt used to trigger
  the retrieval of longterm memory.

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What Is Memory Retrieval?

• Four basic ways in which information can be
  pulled from long-term memory.
• Recall Type of memory retrieval involves being
  able to access the information without being
  cued. For example, answering a question on a
  fill-in-the-blank test is a good example of
  recall.
• Recollection Type of memory retrieval involves
  reconstructing memory, often utilizing logical
  structures, partial memories, narratives or
  clues. For example, writing an answer on an essay
  exam often involves remembering bits on
  information, and then restructuring the remaining
  information based on these partial memories.
• Recognition This type of memory retrieval
  involves identifying information after
  experiencing it again. For example, taking a
  multiple choice quiz requires that you recognize
  the correct answer out of a group of available
  answers.
• Relearning This type of memory retrieval
  involves relearning information that has been
  previously learned. This often makes it easier to
  remember and retrieve information in the future
  and can improve the strength of memories.

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Problems with Retrieval

• Not every retrieval process works perfectly.
• Have you ever felt like you knew the answer to a
  question, but couldn't quite remember the
  information?
• This phenomenon is known as a 'tip of the
  tongue' experience. You might feel certain that
  this information is stored somewhere in your
  memory, but you are unable to access and retrieve
  it.
• Schacter (2001) said that these experiences are
  extremely common, typically occurring at least
  once each week for most younger individuals and
  two to four times per week for elderly adults.

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Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips

• 1. Focus your attention on the materials you are
  studying.
• 2. Avoid cramming by establishing regular study
  sessions.
• 3. Structure and organize the information you are
  studying.
• 4. Utilize mnemonic devices to remember
  information.
• 5. Elaborate and rehearse the information you are
  studying.
• 6. Relate new information to things you already
  know.
• 7. Visualize concepts to improve memory and
  recall.
• 8. Teach new concepts to another person.
• 9. Pay extra attention to difficult information.
• 10. Vary your study routine.

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Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips

• Focus your attention on the materials you are
  studying.
• Attention is a major components of memory.
  For information to move from short-term memory
  into long-term memory ?need to actively attend to
  this information. Try to study in a place free of
  distractions such as television, music and other
  diversions.
• 2. Avoid cramming by establishing regular study
  sessions.
• According to Bjork (2001), studying materials
  over a number of session's gives you the time you
  need to adequately process the information. Those
  who study regularly remember the material far
  better than those who did all of their studying
  in one marathon session.
• 3. Structure and organize the information you are
  studying.
• Researchers have found that information is
  organized in memory in related clusters. S0,
  structure organize the materials you are
  studying. Try grouping similar concepts and terms
  together, or make an outline of your
  notes/textbook readings to help group related
  concepts.

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Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips

• 4. Utilize mnemonic devices to remember
  information.
• A mnemonic is simply a way to remember informatio
  ? a technique used to aid in recall. For example,
  you might associate a term you need to remember
  with a common item that you are very familiar
  with (rhyme). Use a rhyme, song/joke to help
  remember.
• 5. Elaborate rehearse the information you are
  studying.
• In order to recall information, you need to
  encode what you are studying into long-term
  memory ? use elaborative rehearsal. An example of
  this technique would be to read the definition of
  a key term, study the definition of that term and
  then read a more detailed description of what
  that term means. After repeating this process a
  few times, your recall of the information will be
  far better.

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Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips

• 6. Relate new information to things you already
  know.
• Establishing relationships between new ideas and
  previously existing memories, When you are
  studying unfamiliar material, take the time to
  think about how this information relates to
  things that you already know.
• 7. Visualize concepts to improve memory and
  recall.
• Many benefit from visualizing the information
  they study ? focus on the photos, charts,
  graphics etc. If you do not have visual cues to
  help, try creating your own. Draw charts or
  figures in the margins of your notes/use
  highlighter/pens in different colours to group
  related ideas in your notes.
• 8. Teach new concepts to another person.
• Research suggests that reading out loud can
  improves memory of the material or teaching new
  concepts to others enhances understanding and
  recall. You can use this approach in your own
  studies by teaching new concepts and information
  to a friend or study partner

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Top 10 Memory Improvement Tips

• 9. Pay extra attention to difficult information.
• Have you ever noticed how it's sometimes easier
  to remember information at the beginning or end
  of a chapter? Researchers have found that the
  position of information can play a role in
  recall, which is known as the serial position
  effect. While recalling middle information can be
  difficult, you can overcome this problem by
  spending extra time rehearsing this information.
  Another strategy is to try restructuring the
  information so it will be easier to remember.
  When you come across an especially difficult
  concept, devote some extra time to memorizing the
  information.
• 10. Vary your study routine.
• Another great way to increase your recall is to
  occasionally change your study routine. If you
  are accustomed to studying in one specific
  location, try moving to a different spot to
  study. If you study in the evening, try spending
  a few minutes each morning reviewing the
  information you studied the previous night. By
  adding an element of novelty to your study
  sessions, you can increase the effectiveness of
  your efforts and significantly improve your
  long-term recall.

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FORGETTING
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Why do we sometimes forget what we have learnt ?
1. Not properly stored / studied
2. Fading (lack of rehearsal)
3. Too much cramming
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What is Forgetting?

• When Memory Fails?
• Forgetting typically involves a failure in memory
  retrieval. While the information is somewhere in
  your long-term memory, you are not able to
  actually retrieve and remember it.
• Forgetting (retention loss) refers to
• apparent loss of information already encoded and
  stored in an individual's long term memory.
• a spontaneous or gradual process in which old
  memories are unable to be recalled from memory
  storage.
• It is subject to delicately balanced optimization
  that ensures that relevant memories are recalled.
  
• Forgetting can be reduced by repetition and/or
  more elaborate cognitive processing of
  information.

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The Ebbinghaus Forgetting CurveWhat is
Forgetting?

• Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (Father of
  Memory) Research was one of the first to
  scientifically study forgetting ? used himself as
  the subject.
• Pioneered experimental study of memory, and
  discovered the forgetting curve and the spacing
  effect.
• In order to test for new information, Ebbinghaus
  tested his memory for periods of time ranging
  from 20 minutes to 31 days. He then published his
  findings in 1885 in Memory A Contribution to
  Experimental Psychology.

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• EFC revealed a relationship between forgetting
  and time.
• How quickly these memories are lost depend on
• how the information was learned
• how frequently it was rehearsed
• The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting
  does not continue to decline until all of the
  information is lost.
• At a certain point, the amount of forgetting
  levels off. What exactly does this mean? It
  indicates that information stored in long-term
  memory is surprisingly stable.

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The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve
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Why Forgot?

• Elizabeth Loftus, has identified four major
  reasons why people forget
• retrieval failure
• Interference
• failure to store
• motivated forgetting

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Why Forgot?

• 1. Retrieval Failure
• Decay theory - explain why some retrieval fails
  ? i.e. a memory trace is created every time a new
  theory is formed. Decay theory suggests that over
  time, these memory traces begin to fade and
  disappear. Forgetting is simply an inability to
  retrieve a memory. If information is not
  retrieved and rehearsed, it will eventually be
  lost.
• 2. Interferance
• Interference theory suggests that some memories
  compete and interfere with other memories. When
  information is very similar to other information
  that was previously stored in memory,
  interference is more likely to occur. There are
  two basic types of interference
• Proactive interference is when an old memory
  makes it more difficult or impossible to remember
  a new memory.
• Retroactive interference occurs when new
  information interferes with your ability to
  remember previously learned information.

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Why Forgot?

• 3. Failure to Store
• We also forget information because it never
  actually made it into long-term memory. Encoding
  failures sometimes prevent information from
  entering long-term memory. Only details necessary
  for distinguishing pennies from other coins were
  encoded into your long-term memory.
• 4. Motivated Forgetting
• Sometimes, we may actively work to forget
  memories, especially those of traumatic or
  disturbing events or experiences. The two basic
  forms of motivated forgetting are
• suppression, a conscious form of forgetting,
• repression, an unconscious form of forgetting.

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SCL

• Discuss the following
• Why do we fail to remember?
• What are the differences between Ebbinghaus
  theory, Decay theory Interference theory .
• Find out tip on How Not to Forget Things!